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Posts Tagged ‘SpaceClaim’

Recently, ANSYS, known for its engineering simulation software, and MachineWorks known for its machining and verification software signed an agreement to expand the use of Polygonica Polygon Modeling Software toolkit throughout the ANSYS organization.

Polygonicais a polygonal solid modeling toolkit for processing polygon mesh and is the creator of MachineWorks.

Polygonica carries out a wide range of geometric operations on polygon mesh models such as automatic solid healing, fixing self-intersections and Boolean operations. Other algorithms in Polygonica allow remeshing, simplification, offsetting and point cloud manipulation.

Polygonica is built on MachineWorks’ core technology for material removal and machine simulation, and has a wide range of applications for many sectors, including additive manufacturing/3D printing, where solving complex polygon modeling problems is required when handling defective models with vast numbers of polygons.

Polygonica is used in ANSYS Discovery Live software, ANSYS’ relatively new tool that enables fast computation of CAE analysis results using the power of local GPUs. ANSYS Discovery Live shortens the feedback loop between design and analysis and lets product designers see relevant results immediately during the conceptual design process.

Interview with ANSYS at IMTS 2016

Even though we’ve been told by a number of software vendors for several years now to use engineering simulation and analysis at the earliest stages of product development, relatively few companies have heeded the advice and actually done so. In many cases, it’s still design, break, repeat in a cycle that gets very expensive quickly trying to achieve optimized design goals. Even with all the insistence and chiding from the simulation folks, I’d estimate the percentage of design work that includes simulation early in the process as somewhere between 20-25%, although that may be a bit on the high side.

With ANSYS Discovery Live, ANSYS hopes it will break and change that cycle.

Last month, RS Components (RS), the trading brand of Electrocomponents plc, a global distributor for electromechanical engineering components announced that user activations of DesignSpark Mechanical (DSM), the company’s free-for-download 3D modeling and design tool, had reached a cumulative total of 200,000. According to the company, the volume of total activations of the software continues to increase at a rate of between four and five percent per month.

Developed in conjunction with SpaceClaim, DesignSpark Mechanical is a key tool in the RS DesignSpark initiative for providing resources that enable engineers to rapidly develop prototypes in the product concept design stage. Originally launched in late 2013 with a second version offering new functionality introduced the following year, the software is also available with extended engineering options (DS Mechanical Exchange and DS Mechanical Drawing) that costs $995 for the pair.

“DesignSpark Mechanical is a powerful 3D solid modeling tool that has rapidly been accepted by professionals, students and the maker communities, who have found enormous utility in the tool, enabling them to quickly develop 3D prototypes and bring their concepts and products to market in a very fast time,” said Mike Brojak, Head of DesignSpark Customer Solutions at RS. “Meeting this milestone is another hallmark of success for our DesignSpark initiative, which empowers engineers and designers in the maker community and from the smallest start-up to large organizations.”

For only the fourth time since its inception, earlier this week ANSYS announced a leadership succession plan with a new CEO. James E. Cashman, who has served as ANSYS’ CEO since 2000, will step down as CEO and become Chairman of the Board of Directors effective January 1, 2017. Dr. Ajei S. Gopal, a technology industry veteran who has served as a member of the ANSYS Board since 2011, has been appointed President and CEO effective immediately and will continue to serve on the Board. Dr. Gopal will become CEO on January 1, 2017. Ronald W. Hovsepian, who currently serves as Chairman of the ANSYS Board, will assume the role of Lead Independent Director as part of this transition.

Well, another CAD company is snapped up, and the technical software consolidation train continues to roll on. That in itself is not too surprising. What is, though, is that a CAE company has acquired a CAD company.

ANSYS announced earlier today that it has acquired SpaceClaim Corp. for a purchase price of $85 million in cash, plus retention and an adjustment for working capital. The transaction closed on April 30, 2014.

ANSYS SpaceClaim Overview
From the beginning, SpaceClaim said it offered a 3D modeling tool that could be used by more than just CAD experts during the product development process (and this is a key point to the acquisition). According to SpaceClaim, this is made possible because of a process, called “direct modeling,” that differs dramatically from traditional CAD software, which is used by a relatively small percentage of engineers – typically late in the development process, to document the detailed design. While direct modeling itself is not unique, SpaceClaims implementation of it is. (more…)

As our readers know, there is no shortage of mechanical CAD tools available for trained mechanical designers. But, I recently discovered a unique mechanical design product, DesignSpark Mechanical, tailored for engineers whose primary role is electronics design, and secondary role is mechanical design for creating panels, enclosures, and machines. I was interested in experiencing how a mechanical design product would translate for electronics designers and conceptual design. Oh, and it’s free of charge.

I found DesignSpark Mechanical to be a very capable mechanical design tool for non-specialists and was pleasantly surprised at its capabilities and potential.

DesignSpark Mechanical is built on SpaceClaim Engineer, 3D design software that offers a short learning curve along with a direct modeling approach that lets you directly pull and move geometry for design optimization.

Using DesignSpark Mechanical consists of the following three basic steps:

Sketching and pulling to create parts, or importing and opening existing part models from other modeling software, or from the RS Components/Allied Electronics parts library.

Move – This tool is used for selecting and moving faces, solids, surfaces, or objects in a 2D or 3D model.

Fill – This tool is used for selecting a model region and then filling it with the surrounding solid or surface. The fill operation in DesignSpark Mechanical is relatively simple compared with most other feature-based modelers.

Combine – This tool merges and splits solids and surfaces for altering objects. Objects can be added (or merged) together and subtracted (or split) from each other, creating new modified objects that better suit design needs.

With these basic 3D tools, I realized that I had the ability to conceptually model many types of electronic panels and enclosures.

Three Modeling Methods

With DesignSpark Mechanical there are three methods for modeling — from scratch, by selecting components from the DesignSpark library and using them as the basis for a design, or a combination of the two.

With the online library I was able to combine my test design with off-the-shelf electromechanical components (enclosures, relays, switches, etc.) from RS Components’ and Allied Electronics’ 3D library. I was able to select and drop in 3D part models with RS part numbers directly into my test design.

I also was able to import ECAD files from an EDA tool, DesignSpark PCB (RS Components’/Allied Electronics’ printed circuit board design tool), and create a mechanical design around the electrical design.

Design Tools for Electronics Designers

DesignSpark Mechanical has specialized functions and tools specifically for electronics designers – Measure, Dimension, Bill of Materials, and Order Components.

I used the Measure tool by selecting it and clicking on an object (edge or face) for measuring length, area, and perimeter. This was a useful tool for ensuring components or subassemblies would fit within an enclosure.

Selecting the Dimension tool and clicking on an edge or face previews a specific dimension. Clicking a second time, I created the dimension for display. The Dimension tool is useful for calling attention to critical dimensions for collaboration or production.

For design communication, it’s always a good idea to include a Bill of Materials (BOM) as part of a design. In DesignSpark Mechanical, BOMs are automatically populated for both internal and external components that comprise an assembly.

Finally, DesignSpark Mechanical reads in purchasing data from parts downloaded from the RS Components and Allied Electronics webpages and auto-populates a bill of materials (BOM). I clicked the BOM Quote button and the parts list in the current design populated a table in a pop-up browser. By clicking Order Components, I received a quote very quickly.

Final Thoughts

For all the functionality it provides for designing innovative electronic products, DesignSpark Mechanical is available free of charge.

I have evaluated and used many software products over the years for designing mechanical and electromechanical products. Based on my experience, I found DesignSpark Mechanical to be an easy to use, yet capable tool for conceptual electromechanical design, especially by those who have limited or no experience with a mechanical design tool. The learning curve is short, the 3D component libraries are extensive, BOMs and quotes are easy to generate, and it’s free. When considering all of these benefits, I found that there is a lot to like with DesignSpark Mechanical.